


Gathering Data

by Vipersweb (Rhianona)



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-01
Updated: 2008-06-01
Packaged: 2017-10-10 12:24:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhianona/pseuds/Vipersweb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wilfred Mott meets up with Clive Jones for reassurance about Donna traveling with the Doctor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gathering Data

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crystalshard](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=crystalshard).



> Disclaimer: [insert witty comment here] Doctor Who doesn't belong tome.  
> Written for crystalshard, who gave me the prompt of Donna's grandad meets Martha's Dad. This was the result.  
> Spoilers through 'The Unicorn and the Wasp'

Wilfred had always loved the stars. He had obsessed over them, learning the names and relative distance from the Earth over the years. His daughter ignored him when he tried this with her but not Donna. Donna always joined him when he went out at night, climbing up the hill in her wellies and a jumper, a thermos of hot tea in her hand. She'd grab a blanket and sit next to him as he told her of what he saw through his telescope. They'd share a cup of tea and wonder if maybe one day they would see the stars close and personal, rather than from afar. They'd laugh as they speculated about alien life and whether there was such thing as intelligent beings out there, among the stars.

Surprisingly, when Donna was older and more interested in boys and clothes, she still found the time to join him. She even gifted him with a better model of telescope after the disaster that was her wedding. Together, they would stargaze until it grew late - or the cold drove them down the hill and back inside. So when he sees her waving from an old fashioned police box, a smile so wide he can see it without the aid of his telescope, he can't help but be thrilled for her. He's thrilled that one of them will get to live their dream.

***

After the business with ATMOS and the Doctor succeeds in saving the world, Donna comes to him. She flutters around, hands wringing as she explains what happened, how she and Martha Jones, someone who used to travel with the Doctor before deciding to stay Earthbound, helped him defeat the aliens responsible for almost killing the world. "The thing is Granddad, is that it's not always safe," she tell him, her eyes big as she looks at him with worry. "And I don't _want_ for you to worry but, it's just so amazing. Traveling through time and space. The things I've seen. They're utterly amazing."

This is not something that Wilfred hadn't already guessed. He knows Donna, knows when she dissembles or doesn't quite tell him _everything_.

"But look. Martha's family, they know what it's like. And Martha gave me their number so if you want, you can ring them up for support." There's a tight look in Donna's face as if she doesn't want to tell him _why_ the Joneses know about the Doctor and what it's like to have their child travel with him.

He knows Donna has seen some amazing things since she has gone with the Doctor; he also trusts her enough to not continue traveling with the alien if she felt unsafe. Tactful his granddaughter is not. And he's seen her with the Doctor and knows she doesn't pull her punches with him. It pleases him, makes him feel that much better when she's off with him. She hasn't changed that much.

Before Donna leaves to join the Doctor again, she gives him a piece of paper with the telephone number of Francine and Clive Jones, Martha's parents. He fingers it quietly as he watches Donna stride down the street, hurrying as she sees the time machine masquerading as a blue police box. Because the thing is… Donna is his only granddaughter and he _worries_ even if he's not going to stop her from traveling. Despite how headstrong Donna is (and boy is she ever!) if he asks, he knows she would stay. He's not willing to destroy her dream though so he smiles as he waves her off and thinks of an excuse to give her mother for her continued absence.

***

Clive Jones jiggles his leg as he waits for the man he's supposed to meet. Martha had rung him up a week ago, saying that she had given their number to the grandfather of the Doctor's latest Companion. The Doctor. He hates the memories that name brings up but he also can't help but feel gratitude towards him. Despite the horror of the year that never was, he knows that without that year, he would not be back with Francine and certainly would not have the close relationship he now sports with both Martha and Tish. It's just when he's holding Francine at night as she cries from the nightmares, or when Tish comes to him and flutters about, before breaking down or when Martha calls them to let them know exactly where she's going to be, that he can't help but hate the Doctor, just a little bit, for changing his family. And yet… he also knows he _likes_ the changes, likes that he and Francine have rekindled their love, that their daughters come to him and her for advice and comfort.

Therein lies the paradox of the Doctor.

The door jingles as an older man steps through and somehow without ever having met him before, Clive knows this is Wilfred Mott, grandfather to Donna Noble, latest companion to the Doctor. He peers through the pub, head covered with an old cap, jacket worn and comfortable. Clive stands from where he is sitting and waves the man over. "Wilfred Mott?" he asks as he draws within earshot. He's rewarded with a quick grin before Wilfred slides into the seat across from him.

"Thank you for meeting me," Wilfred says after they've gone and ordered their pints. Clive shrugs.

"Once Martha explained, I couldn't rightly refuse." And it's true. The Doctor may have saved the Earth more times than he can remember, but the people who actually _know_ him are few and far between. They are a small elite club and one that Clive is proud of which to be a part, but he knows his inclusion is solely due to Martha and not through actions of his own. He doesn't think he's brave enough to step through that door, that Pandora's box.

Wilfred merely nods as he takes a sip. "The thing is," he starts, "I'm not blind to the danger. I know Donna isn't telling me everything and I know she downplayed the actual amount of danger she's in." He pauses, old eyes searching Clive's. "And I don't begrudge her taking the opportunity to go with him. I'm happy for her, happy that she gets to live a part of our dream." Because it is their dream, to travel among their beloved stars, to see up close and personal that which they have gazed at for years.

Clive finds himself nodding as Wilfred slowly unburdens himself. His concerns are valid. It's not that he resents Martha taking the chance to travel with the Doctor, and truth be told, Francine was the one that placed the family in danger by conspiring with Saxon and not _trusting_ Martha, but he knows that not all the nightmares Martha has come solely from the year that never was.

"Donna's assured me she's safe, even told me I can ring her up when I want to reassure myself - and that's a relief. But. She's not going to tell me the truth of the dangers." And suddenly, his eyes sharpen, pierce Clive's, telling him without words that Wilfred Mott is not some meek old man, unable to handle tough news. This is a man who had survived World War II, who had fought at the end, surviving even as his fellows died around him, who had raised one daughter and instilled in his granddaughter a love of the stars and adventure that enabled her to keep up with the Doctor when she crossed paths with him. With that, Clive suddenly realizes what it is about his daughter, Wilfred's granddaughter, the sons and daughters of all those others who have travelled with the Doctor in the past and will continue to do so in the future, that cause them to take that first step into the Doctor's ship. He recognizes in Wilfred similar traits he knows exist in he and Francine and thinks, _This is why. This is what our children have seen and taken into them and this is why they go with the Doctor when he offers_.

He's not going to lie, not going to prevaricate and bend the truth. Wilfred deserves nothing less than the truth and he's glad Francine didn't join them because for all that she appreciates the Doctor for what he did, she still doesn't like him and a part of her hates the bond he has with their daughter. Martha's told them the truth about the ATMOS disaster, and it worries them both that she's still in contact with the Doctor - especially given how the TARDIS apparently kidnapped her when she went in to say goodbye to the Doctor and Donna. But she's safe and back on Earth now and none the worse for her short adventure with the Doctor.

"It's dangerous," he tells Wilfred. "But the Doctor will do everything he can to make sure Donna stays safe." He closes his eyes, remember with sudden clarity how both Jack and the Doctor would taunt the Master to keep his attention on them rather than the Joneses during that long year of imprisonment and servitude. How many times had Jack died simply to make sure Francine and Tish and he weren't hurt or killed? How many times had the Doctor reminded the Master of Gallifrey and their shared past?

Too many, truth be told.

He drains his pint and notices that Wilfred has finished his own as well. He needs a moment - to get his thoughts in order before he actually talks about the year that never was. It's not something they speak about, not even among themselves. It comes out in nightmares and crying jags and sometimes in a simple look. The sad reality of it is that even if they _wanted_ to speak about it with someone, who could they turn to? The only people to live through the year that never was and keep their memories were his family, the Doctor, a couple of UNIT soldiers and Jack Harkness. And so the memories stayed where they were and they coped as best as they can, mostly by pulling together.

The Jones family has never been so close with one another as they are now.

He sips his pint a few times before returning to the conversation. He almost wishes he had brought a shot of something strong to help him, but he's never turned to drink as a method of coping before and he's not about to start now. "Martha met the Doctor and went off with him without a word to me or her mother. While she was traveling with the Doctor, an enemy of the Doctor used my wife to try and get at Martha and through her, the Doctor. In the end, we all ended up prisoners of a madman." Slowly, painfully, he relates what happened - no real details, just enough to provide the bare bones of what happened. Even then, by the end of his retelling Wilfred looks at him with horror.

"And you still say I shouldn't be worried?" Wilfred asks.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't worry, but I am saying that the Doctor would rather die than see Donna dead. His Companions… they're like his family, his responsibility. He's a brilliant being, and utterly terrible when provoked. So yeah, he and Donna and whoever else travels with him might find themselves in danger and see horrible and terrible things, but at the end of it all, the Doctor isn't going to let her get hurt." Clive desperately wants Wilfred to understand that. It's the one thing he knows for sure; the Doctor can be fickle, the on-coming storm or whatever other ridiculous nickname he has earned, but in the end, he cares for all those connected to him and would move mountains for them if it meant they were happy.

He watches as Wilfred considers his words and doesn't try to hide anything from him. After some long moments, Wilfred nods, as if satisfied by whatever he's seen in Clive's face. "Good to know I've not entrusted my granddaughter to a crazed alien then," he says matter-of-factly. Clive bursts out laughing and with that, he knows he wants to keep in touch with this man. He thinks Francine and Tish and Martha would like him and maybe even Leo, though Leo looks at them strangely these days. During that year, he was happy that Leo remained safe and away from the Master, but unlike the rest of the family, he does not remember the hell they went through. And while he doesn't wish that on his only son, he also mourns, just a little bit, that Leo _doesn't_ have that same bond the rest of the family does. _Yes_ he thinks, _if Donna is anything like Wilfred, I can see why the Doctor chose to travel with her._

***

It's with a smile and an easy gait that Wilfred leaves the pub where he met Clive Jones. He has put his mind to ease more than any protestations by his granddaughter could have, no matter how persuasive she can be. He willfully ignores that she more often than not gets her way by wittering away until the one thwarting her path just gave in to get her to shut up. His Donna has always had a healthy set of lungs. He's rather happy to have met Clive and thinks it will be nice to have someone to discuss his concerns, especially since it is best for his daughter to remain ignorant of the truth of the matter.

He makes it home just in time to answer the phone. He grins wildly as he hears Donna on the other end, chattering away about everything she's seen and done since they last spoke. "Agatha Christie granddad! I got to meet Agatha blooming Christie!" Later, when she's calmed down, he'll tell her about his meeting with Clive and how he trusts the Doctor to make sure she stays safe, but to also _be_ careful - no sense only relying on the alien after all, no matter how wonderful he is. But for now? He's content to just listen to her.


End file.
